Page 76 of Almost Ours

“You’re supposed to tell the truth.”

“Am I supposed to know what this truth is?”

“Yes. I want you to tell me what you feel when I do this,” she leans forward and kisses my cheek tenderly. Shit. “And this.” She kisses the corner of my mouth. Shit. Shit. Shit. “Maybe even this.” She gingerly kisses my lips, before whispering in my ear. “Do you feel nothing?”

Holy fucking shit.

I don’t know what the fuck is happening. Only that my body is taking all leave of my senses and the urge to drag her to me and kiss her stupid is overwhelming.

I grip the jumper at either side. “You seriously want me to answer that?”

“Yes.” Her voice brushes my ear, and my fingers dig into her harder.

“I feel something,” I admit, every nerve ending feeling electrocuted.

Ruby pulls back a fraction, and the satisfaction in her eyes should annoy me, but all I can think about is how nice it would be to kiss her. “Tell me what you feel, Josh.”

I drag my eyes over her face, trying to find an answer that doesn’t sound completely fucking unhinged, because the truth is I feel too much. I feel every place she’s touching me. I feel her knees against my thighs and her fingers at the back of my neck and the pressure of her body between my legs, and I’m so aware of her that it’s almost painful. “I feel like you’re making it very difficult to think.”

Ruby’s gaze drops to my mouth. “That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you’re getting.” My thumbs start moving over the sides of her waist beneath the jumper and I watch her breathing change.

She’s reacting too.

“Josh,” her voice is throaty. “Your pupils dilate when you look at me, did you know that? And not just right now, but every single time.”

“Do they?”

“Yep.” She nods, her eyes watching me for every reaction I have to her. “And your breathing goes all funny.”

I glance at her lips. “Does it?”

“Mhm.”

“Anything else you’ve been keeping track of?”

“You look at my lips a lot.”

“Are you sure about that?” My heart is taking off, galloping in my chest. The closer she stays, the harder it is to pretend this is some harmless little game we’re playing. My hands slide around her waist and pull her in until there’s no space left between us, then one of them travels up her back, fingers spreading over the nape of her neck until I cup the back of her head the same way she’s holding mine.

“Josh,” she whispers.

“Ruby,” I whisper back.

“Are we going to be just friends?”

I don’t have to answer because three hard knocks pound against the door, loud enough to make Ruby flinch in my arms and drag me straight out of whatever the fuck is happening between us.

“Ruby!” Oscar bellows through it. “You better be in there!” Oscar bangs the door again. “I swear to God!”

“Oh, fuck,” she mutters.

Yeah, oh fuck. He’s going to cut my dick off if he sees me here, he so much as said it himself last night. He’ll probably kick me off the team, tell everyone what a prick I am, maybe finish the job by throwing me out of the fucking building right now and I’ve got no defence because his sister is between my legs, my hands all over her waist, and I was fully prepared to kiss her.

I was going to kiss Ruby.

Which would be a colossal mistake.